People: Bradley, John


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Surname

Bradley

Forename

John

Sex

Male

Parish

Middleton

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/12/1 – defendant

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People: Alens, John


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Surname

Alens (Allens)

Forename

John

Sex

Male

Parish

Middleton

Marital Status

Unknown

Remarks

He lived in the township of Ainsworth in the parish of Middleton.

Causes

EDC 5/12/1 – defendant

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People: Aspenhawlgh, John


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Surname

Aspenhawlgh (Aspinall)

Forename

John

Sex

Male

Parish

Middleton

Marital Status

Unknown

Remarks

He lived in the township of Ainsworth in the parish of Middleton.

Causes

EDC 5/12/1 – defendant

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People: Assheton, Robert (rector of Middleton and Radcliffe)


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Surname

Assheton

Forename

Robert

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Unknown

Occupation Status

Clerk; rector of Middleton and Radcliffe

Remarks

CCEd person ID 19153

Career: Robert Assheton was presented to the parish of Middleton in Lancashire on 23 February 1541.  The right of presentation to the parish belonged to the manor of Middleton, owned by the Assheton family since the fifteenth century, although Robert Assheton was presented by Edmund Hopwood who had been granted the right of next presentation. He was also rector of Radcliffe from 1537 and is thought to have died in 1563.

Haigh considered that he was possibly a conservative in religion as he is understood to have resigned both rectories in 1559 following the Elizabethan Religious Settlement.

Sources:

Christopher Haigh, Reformation and Resistance in Tudor Lancashire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) 1975, p. 334.

‘The parish of Middleton’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp151-161

Causes

EDC 5/12/1 – plaintiff
EDC 5/13/3 – plaintiff

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People: Beetham, Margaret


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Surname

Beetham (Betham)

Forename

Margaret

Sex

Female

Marital Status

At Issue

Spouse Name

Sir Robert Worsley

Remarks

Career: Her husband, Sir Robert Worsley, considered that his marriage to his first wife, Alice Tyldesley, had been dissolved on the grounds of her alleged adultery. The church authorities did not agree, and his second marriage to Margaret was considered bigamous. This probably explains the following reference to her the 1547 will of Alice’s father ‘notwithstanding yt my sone in law Sir Robert Worsley knight is married to Margerit Bethum his wif yet levyng yet I remyt and pardon to him vijli xs apon condicion yt he geve yerly unto my doughter Alis his wif vli or mor for hir exhibicion duryng her absens from him or apon condcion yt he take his said wif into his company and intreat hir as he ought to do’ (Piccope, Wills, pp. 100-101).

Sources:

Rev. G. J. Piccope (ed.), Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester (Chetham Society, old series, 33, 1857 (First Portion), pp. 97-114

F. R. Raines (ed.), The visitation of the county palatine of Lancaster, made in the year 1664-5, by Sir William Dugdale, Knight, part III (Chetham Society, old series, 88, 1873), pp. 339-340

 

Causes

EDC 5/11/2 – Sir Robert Worsley

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People: Tyldesley, Alice


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Surname

Tyldesley (Tildesley, Tyldisley)

Forename

Alice

Sex

Female

Marital Status

At Issue

Spouse Name

Sir Robert Worsley

Remarks

Career: She was the daughter of Thurstan Tyldesley of Wardley.

Her husband, Sir Robert Worsley, considered that his marriage to her had been dissolved on the grounds of her alleged adultery. The church authorities did not agree, and his second marriage was considered bigamous. This probably explains the following reference to her the 1547 will of her father ‘notwithstanding yt my sone in law Sir Robert Worsley knight is married to Margerit Bethum his wif yet levyng yet I remyt and pardon to him vijli xs apon condicion yt he geve yerly unto my doughter Alis his wif vli or mor for hir exhibicion duryng her absens from him or apon condcion yt he take his said wif into his company and intreat hir as he ought to do’ (Piccope, Wills, pp. 100-101).

Sources:

Rev. G. J. Piccope (ed.), Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester (Chetham Society, old series, 33, 1857 (First Portion), pp. 97-114

F. R. Raines (ed.), The visitation of the county palatine of Lancaster, made in the year 1664-5, by Sir William Dugdale, Knight, part III (Chetham Society, old series, 88, 1873), pp. 339-340

 

Causes

EDC 5/11/2 – Sir Robert Worsley

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People: Worsley, Sir Robert


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Surname

Worsley (Worseley)

Forename

Robert

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1512

Marital Status

At Issue

Spouse Name

First wife, Alice Tyldesley; second wife, Margaret Beetham

Occupation Status

Gentleman

Remarks

Career: Robert Worsley was born about 1512. He inherited extensive estates in Lancashire and Yorkshire on the death of his grandfather although he seems to have been in some financial difficulty as he sold off parts of his estate.

He was knighted at Leith in 1544 and elected to the first Marian parliament of 1553, although did not serve the full term, and was elected again in 1558. He served as sheriff of Lancashire twice in 1548-9, 1559-60 and was a J.P. for the county from about 1540. He was a commissioner for ecclesiastical causes for the diocese of Chester from 1562.

He married firstly Alice, the daughter of Thurstan Tyldesley of Wardley, and secondly Margaret Beetham. However, as papers at EDC 5/11/2 indicate that although he considered that his marriage to Alice had been dissolved on the grounds of her alleged adultery the church authorities did not agree, and his second marriage was considered bigamous. This may explain the following reference in the 1547 will of Thurstan Tyldesley ‘notwithstanding yt my sone in law Sir Robert Worsley knight is married to Margerit Bethum his wif yet levyng yet I remyt and pardon to him vijli xs apon condicion yt he geve yerly unto my doughter Alis his wif vli or mor for hir exhibicion duryng her absens from him or apon condcion yt he take his said wif into his company and intreat hir as he ought to do’ (Piccope, Wills, pp. 100-101).

Sir Robert Worsley died in December 1585 and was buried at Eccles.

Sources:

Rev. G. J. Piccope (ed.), Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester (Chetham Society, old series, 33, 1857 (First Portion), pp. 97-114

F. R. Raines (ed.), The visitation of the county palatine of Lancaster, made in the year 1664-5, by Sir William Dugdale, Knight, part III (Chetham Society, old series, 88, 1873), pp. 339-340

‘Townships: Worsley’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp376-392 [accessed 6 January 2025]

https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/worsley-sir-robert-1512-85

Causes

EDC 5/11/2 – Sir Robert Worsley

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Places: Low


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Place Type

Chapelry

County

Lancashire

Parish

Blackburn

Deanery

Blackburn

Causes

EDC 5/11/1 – Sir Thomas Langton, farmer of the tithes of the chapelry of Low, contra Lawrence Banastre

LOW (or WALTON-LE-DALE)

Walton-le-Dale was a township and chapelry in the parish of Blackburn. The chapel, dedicated to St Leonard, was also known as Low Chapel and it seems that the chapelry was known both as Low and Walton-le-Dale. It is situated on the south bank of the River Ribble at the confluence of the River Darwen, almost opposite to the town of Preston. The banks of both rivers rise steeply, and the chapel is situated of high ground overlooking the rivers. Farming in the parish was largely pastoral with some arable and woodland and there was market gardening on the lower ground. By the mid-nineteenth century the cotton industry had developed and there was an iron foundry.

The manor of Walton was owned by the Banastre family and passed by marriage to the Langtons in the fourteenth century and then to the Hoghton family in the reign of Elizabeth. In a tithe cause brought by Thomas Langton against Laurence Banastre, Langton is described as ‘baron of Walton’.

The chapelry belonged to the monastery of Whalley. However, it seems that local residents resented the influence of the monastery. In 1525 Thomas Langton refused to allow any priest appointed by the abbot of Whalley to serve the chapelry and in 1526 some residents refused to pay mortuaries to Whalley. They were summoned to appear before the consistory court at Lichfield, but the case was eventually dismissed. Following the suppression of Whalley in 1537 the chapel with its tithes was valued at £27 11s 2d and  passed under lease to Richard Breame and then, in 1547, to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer together with the rectory of Blackburn (A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6). It became a perpetual curacy.

The tower of the parish church building is late medieval, as is the chancel, but most of the rest of the building dates from the beginning of the twentieth century.

Sources:

Christopher Haigh, Reformation and Resistance in Tudor Lancashire (Cambridge, 1975), pp. 32, 57 (Haigh refers to this chapelry as ‘Lawe’)

‘Walton – Walton, Wood’, in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis( London, 1848), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp453-457 [accessed 5 January 2025]

‘Townships: Walton-le-Dale’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp289-300 [accessed 5 January 2025]

Historic England:
Church of St Leonard, Church Brow (1074102)
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1074102 National Heritage List for England

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People: Banastre, Lawrence


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Surname

Banastre (Banester, Bannister, Banister)

Forename

Lawrence

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Jane

Occupation Status

Gentleman

Remarks

Career: Lawrence Banastre lived at Banister Hall, also called Darwen Hall, in the northern part of the township of Walton-le-Dale. His family had occupied the hall for several generations. He was married to Jane, daughter of Sir Richard Hoghton, and he died in 1558.

He was named as one of the out-burgesses at Preston gild in 1542.

Sources:

F. R. Raines (ed.), The visitation of the county palatine of Lancaster, made in the year 1567 by William Flower, Esq (Chetham Society, old series, 81, 1870), p. 35

‘Townships: Walton-le-Dale’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1911), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp289-300 [accessed 5 January 2025]

Causes

EDC 5/11/1 – defendant

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People: Langton, Sir Thomas


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Surname

Langton (Longton)

Forename

Thomas

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1496/97

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

First wife, Elizabeth; second wife, Anne

Occupation Status

Gentleman

Remarks

Career:  Thomas Langton was born in 1496/97, the second son of Ralph Langton of Newton and Walton-le-Dale. His father and older brother had died by 1511, and he was made a ward of a younger son of the first earl of Derby, Sir Edward Stanley, whose daughter, Elizabeth, became Langton’s first wife.

He was knighted in 1533 at the coronation of Anne Boleyn and later assisted the earl of Derby in the suppression of the Pilgrimage of Grace and fought in the border wars against the Scots. He was elected to the second Marian parliament of 1554 and served as sheriff of Lancashire three times in the 1560s and 1570s.

His will indicates that he held extensive lands and also held the advowson of the parish of Wigan. He is named as baron of Newton and baron of Walton.

He has been described as an ‘ardent litigant’ (Alan Davidson, History of Parliament Online).

Sir Thomas Langton died in 1569 and asked to be buried ‘in the parisshe churche of Lawe’ (Piccope, p. 250).

Sources:

Rev. G. J. Piccope (ed.), Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester (Chetham Society, old series, 51, 1860), pp. 246-255

F. R. Raines (ed.), The visitation of the county palatine of Lancaster, made in the year 1567 by William Flower, Esq (Chetham Society, old series, 81, 1870), p. 24

https://historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/langton-sir-thomas-149697-1569

Causes

EDC 5/11/1 – plaintiff

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